A proud Father...

[K.C.Leblanc]

Aww, looks like the cat is pleased with its decision to own a new human... As it is cats which own their humans, not the other way round.

 

Very true,

 

Dogs have a master, cats have staff.

[Domino]

Very true,

 

Dogs have a master, cats have staff.

 

OI!

 

Dogs have owners, Cats have staff

[NikChillin]

And so floppy and playful too!

Don't change the subject!

[K.C.Leblanc]

OI!

 

You read my mind, where did I leave my car keys?

[Little-Miss]

Ragdolls are floppy, hence the name. Are you keeping him as a house cat?

[Sirbendy]

I never thought I was a cat person, but these days I appear to have 3..heh. All moggies. 1 ex-farm cat, who is huge, hulking, black and looks quite a beefcake, but is THE most tolerant and loving puddle of fur I've ever seen...he takes everything my 2 year old can do and just accepts it serenely. Even clothes/baby wipes/feeding imaginary soup.

 

1 is a rescue cat, we had from about 6 weeks old (if that). Was in a box in a cupboard, no parent cat...poor chap. Hand raised, with the help of big cat. Now he's a lean, lanky, nervous boy who'll keep his distance from anyone but family, and will only consent to being scragged/fussed for any time by me, so he's "my" cat. Part oriental, very lanky, very mournful and yowly meow.

 

The newest member of the cat committee is a gorgeous ginger girlie, her brother is part norweigan forest cat (he's HUGE)..she's quite slim, and as thick as a brick sandwich..

 

All house cats, until I cat-proof the garden. Too many nutters out there for my taste.

[NikChillin]

 

The newest member of the cat committee is a gorgeous ginger girlie, her brother is part norweigan forest cat (he's HUGE)..she's quite slim, and as thick as a brick sandwich.

 

We have a female ginger and she is thick too, the vet says it's common amongst female ginger cats.

[Rawns]

Ragdolls are floppy, hence the name. Are you keeping him as a house cat?

 

Yes we are. We live in the middle of a new 3 story flat, and it back's up against a railway line. Based on what I've read, they have no natural defensive instincts and if they wander in front of things like cars, trains, etc, they just play dead!

 

He seems to love it in the flat though. He has lots of toys and things to climb on. His favourite 2 things to play with are my feet & the bottom of my trousers (makes walking around the flat a nightmare as I'm worried I'd tread on him!) and a small plastic cup which he loves to bat and roll around with! He has shown very little interest in his cat toys though, despite the fact one of them is stuffed with catnip!

Edited November 3, 2011 by Rawns

[Butters]

All my cats seem to love balls made out of tin foil.

 

Cheap and effective cat toy.

[K.C.Leblanc]

We have a female ginger and she is thick too, the vet says it's common amongst female ginger cats.

 

The level of variation in cat inteligence is quite stagering. We had one cat who when it rained would come in the back door, she'd then expect to be let out the front door, when the door was open she'd always be shocked to discover that it was raining outside the front door as well.

 

We had two cats who could open the fridge, but one of them knew if he never got caught the other cat would get the rollocking. He was one smart kitty.

[Rydra]

If you don't mind your cat sleeping on the bed, then I at least suggest getting an old wooly blanket, and putting it at the foot of the bed; cats can't resist this it seems. Worn clothes, dressing gowns or freshly ironed clothing works too.

 

If you'd prefer them to sleep elsewhere, find a warm quiet corner of the house, and invest in a cat bed/basket. As soon as you locate the spot for it, find cat and put cat in the bed/basket. They'll almost certainly jump out again, but any item you want the cats to know the location of, drop then on/in/in front of it as soon as you place it, and they will remember it for later.

 

Another nice one, which has saved me from kicking the cats in the middle of the night, was to invest in a radiator hanging cat-bed. They are pretty cheap, you can pick them up from pet stores or places like wilkinsons/aldi/netto's/poundland/argos.

 

Laser Pointers are fun with any age of cat, requires minimal effort from yourself and will keep them running around like a loony for hours.

 

Take down any net curtains you've got. Seriously, take them down now. They have pulled 4 of them off the windows, snapping the pole on one of them and putting holes in 2 of the others.

 

Anywhere you've got furniture/items that they test their claws on and you don't want them to, invest in a scratching post to put next to it. This technique means that I have absolutely no damage to any of my furniture anywhere in the house, as they learn that the scratching post is far better and doesn't involve ballistic pillows or other misc items I have to hand.

 

Especially with long haired cats, get yourself a grooming brush or two. This is an excellent way of getting a slightly skitty/scaredy cat to sit with you, and over time they come to the conclusion that sitting next to you/on your lap aint bad.

 

Feeding routine: I normally leave out dry food in the morning and a fresh bowl of water, and feed them a packet of Wet food in the evening. 1 sachet of wet food + the dry mix, and they very rarely eat everything between the 2 cats. Remember to store your cat food in a cupboard, preferably a high one; mine know where the food is, and i've seen them trying to open the cupboard before, and there's cats out there that have worked out how to open a fridge even.

 

Lastly, DON'T have workmen around your house untill they are a bit older.... I had electricians in to rewire my house when they were under a year old, it's taken them 2 years to get over it, and they still haven't fully; when the doorbell rings, or they hear someone outside the door they bolt for the stairs and hide in our bedroom.

[Rawns]

When I was younger, we had a black female cat (not sure what breed). Our house was on a corner and seemed to be a converging place for all cats in the street! Good as we loved all the cats on the road, but also bad as Lady was a very territorial cat and very aggressive if other cats were in the garden while she was around. She had a cat flap in the back door and due to other cats trying to sneak in through the cat flap, we had to resort to semi-locking it so she could get outside but not back in again.

 

Neighbours cats would just sit outside the little door and peer in, however, Lady was extremely clever and learnt to get her claw out and hook it under the cat flap door and pull it towards her gaining access inside! No other cats could ever do it and just pawed away at the glass with futility. Ahhh, I loved lady.......